


Point B

by CapyWritesShit



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Co-Parenting, Gen, Minor Character Death, Post-Canon, Raising a Child, Rebirth, Reincarnation, fig has to raise aydas incarnations and its sad, uhh idk how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25956151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CapyWritesShit/pseuds/CapyWritesShit
Summary: It takes a village—or in this case, four immortal elves, two immortal archdevils, and a semi-mortal half-elf.
Relationships: Adaine Abernant & Figueroth Faeth, Aelwen Abernant & Figueroth Faeth, Ayda Aguefort & Figueroth Faeth, Figueroth Faeth & Fabian Aramais Seacaster
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	Point B

**Author's Note:**

> title from "B (If I Should Have A Daughter)" by Sarah Kay

The first time Figueroth Faeth has to raise a child, she luckily does not have to do it alone. She thinks that, if at any point her friends left her to raise Ayda on her own, she'd fuck up so massively that she wouldn't be able to remedy it. That she'd ruin Ayda's life in the same way her dad did all those centuries ago and it would take lifetimes for the two of them to recover.

That does not happen, thankfully, and Ayda Aguefort is raised by a wonderful family that cares about her deeply. Adaine is probably the most obvious when it comes to picking Ayda's family, because she insists on being there for the whole thing. So Fig has Adaine right beside her, holding her hands and following her moves and feeling out parenthood at the same pace.

More surprisingly are Aelwyn and Fabian, who Fig didn't expect to care that much about her wife's reincarnated life. Aelwyn insists that it gives her something to do, someone to care about that isn't just Adaine, a family to work towards. Fabian says that Ayda was an interesting enough friend in adulthood that she would certainly be and interesting child to raise. What Fig pretends not to notice in them is the way they look at her and Adaine, broken by the prospect of having to raise one of the most important people in both of their lives immediately after her death.

Fig's parents are right there beside her every step of the way, too, gently guiding her along with their, as they would say, "endless experience raising such a problem child." Gilear tells Fig that she's getting off easy with a kid as well behaved as Ayda, Gorthalax insists that Fig knows Ayda well enough that it'll be easy for her to parse out what to do, and Sandra Lynn says that it takes a village—or in this case, four immortal elves, two immortal archdevils, and a semi-mortal half-elf.

Ayda Aguefort grows up with two moms, a somewhat present father, an aunt, an uncle, a grandma, and two grandpas. She grows quick and cunning and smart, just like all the Aydas before her, and she grows up loved and cherished by many.

Just like she did in all her previous lifetimes, Ayda takes notes. She writes and writes and writes and Fig will ask what she's writing and Ayda will scrunch up her brow like the answer is obvious, and Fig supposes it is when Ayda answers _anything and everything I can_. Adaine and Aelwyn help teach Ayda magic, as wizards do, and Fabian teaches her how to wield a sword in case magic ever fails her, and Fig shows her how to play bass guitar and use it as a weapon.

And the longer Ayda lives, the more the sting of her death fades, and it fades and fades until it comes back full force as Ayda Aguefort bursts into flames again and Fig, immortal and everlasting, is forced to watch. Adaine grips her hand like a vice as sobs wrack her body. Aelwyn does not cry, but she looks so, so pained, and Fabian holds Fig as she shakes.

They make it through in one piece, their little family once again starting from the top when the ashes give way to a crying baby girl.

The second time Figueroth Faeth has to raise a child, she thinks she can do better. It's a little bit easier, even if it's still extremely, unbearably hard to look at the face of the woman she once loved as a child, calling her mom. But she's done this once before, and Adaine and Aelwyn and Fabian have all done this once before, and they want to do better. They know they can do better.

This time around Adaine takes Ayda to the Compass Points more often when Fig doesn't, and Fabian teaches her more about pirate stuff that Fig doesn't care for, and Aelwyn shows Ayda all these cool spells that are way more advanced and they all work their asses off to be better than before. Better than they were, better than they are, better for Ayda.

It works, to some extent, and this Ayda is splendent and joyous and always smiling, even when she pretends she's not. This Ayda writes more than the other, and when she calls Adaine mama instead of mom for the first time Adaine bursts into tears.

The thing about raising reincarnations of the same person over and over again, Fig finds, is that each new Ayda is a shadow of her past selves, like holding her picture up to a funhouse mirror. Alike enough that the four of them can sort of figure out how to raise her right, but just different enough that it throws them for a loop every time she says something that contradicts what she was like in a past life.

So Ayda grows, and she learns, and she lives and laughs and loves so brightly it almost hurts Fig to watch that light dim and dim until there's only ash left in her wake.

The third time Figueroth Faeth has to raise a child, she doesn't actually raise her. Fabian dies somewhere within the first five years of this Ayda's life, and the Abernants completely shut themselves off for a few years. Aelwyn mourns, and Adaine mourns, and Fig mourns because there's only two Bad Kids left alive.

So Fig, ever the realist about her own abilities while grieving, hands little baby Ayda Aguefort off to one slightly unhinged Arthur Aguefort with the promise that, when she's reincarnated once again, he brings her back to Fig. _This is a one time thing_ , she reminds him, and although Arthur Aguefort is rather wild at times, he nods and takes Ayda and doesn't contact Fig much for the next hundred or so years.

The fourth time Figueroth Faeth has to raise a child, she no longer has a village at her beck and call. She has the Abernants, who have grieved and mourned quite enough in the hundred years it takes for Ayda to cycle through a life, and are once again prepared to raise a baby with her. Her parents aren't around, though, having reached the end of their near immortal lives, because despite what everyone says, elves are not immortal, and Fig knows now that one day, maybe not anytime soon but _one day_ , she will have to do this alone.

Fig tells Ayda about her past lives, and about The Bad Kids and her Uncle Fabian and all the things she wishes Ayda could have but can't anymore. Fig wipes away fiery tears when Ayda's cries and smiles wide when she laughs and promises, swears by the seven seas and the moon and stars that she'll never, ever give this up ever again. She's missed an entire incarnation and that's one too many already.

For years and years Fig teaches Ayda everything she can, pours all the love and affection she can muster into her little ball of fire and she knows she's not a perfect mom, not by far, but she's doing the best she can and Ayda never complains.

The fifth time Figueroth Faeth has to raise a child, she teaches Ayda how to be tough and how to take hits and how to be the strongest Ayda she can be. She teaches Ayda how to take blow after blow and still stand and spit the blood from her mouth and smile, because it's going to take more than that to knock out the fantastical Ayda Aguefort.

The sixth time Figueroth Faeth has to raise a child, she teaches Ayda how to be kind and compassionate and loving and tender and how to kiss away the bruises, how to patch up the cuts and wipe away the tears. She teaches Ayda how to cry for others and turn her tears into words of healing and care and to force the world to bow at the strength of her warmth and love.

The seventh time Figueroth Faeth has to raise a child, she teaches Ayda how to smile sharp and dangerous and turn people's words against them and let the cruelty of the world run off of her like water trickling down stone. She teaches Ayda that people will be mean, and they will never let up because they have no reason to, and she is better than them by virtue of her sheer willpower.

The eighth, ninth, tenth time Figueroth Faeth has to raise a child, she tries to be better than before, raise Ayda in the way she thinks is best for that time, tries and tries and _tries_ her best to be a good mom, and somehow she always seems to fall just a bit short. She's too tense one lifetime, too loose the next, always overcorrecting for past mistakes she may have made.

Figueroth Faeth was never meant to be a mom, not without one Ayda Aguefort at her side, raising their baby together. But Ayda _is_ the baby, and Fig can't just let her live alone on some dirty pirate island because she has people who care about her now, she has people like Adaine and Aelwyn and _Fig_. Ayda has an immortal family that will watch over her, lifetime after lifetime, _even_ if it hurts, _even_ if it's hard, because that's what family _does_.

The eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth time Fig has to raise a child she does so with Adaine and Aelwyn at her side, as always, making up for the parts of her that will never be enough. Ayda has two moms and an incredible aunt and maybe that should be enough, but it isn't.

It takes a village—it takes two nearly-immortal elves and an immortal archdevil and that's all Ayda has.

The fourteenth, fifteenth time Fig has to raise a child, she does so easily. Maybe it still hurts, sometimes, to think about centuries ago when the Ayda she once loved would wake up beside her and smile that smile of hers and kiss her good morning, but that time has long passed and now she wakes up to the Ayda she now loves beside her, tiny body curled up after a nightmare and sleeping soundly because nothing can hurt her when Fig's around.

The sixteenth, seventeenth time Fig has to raise a child, she takes her across the world, teaches her the languages she knows and learns even more with her, learns about other cultures and other places outside of Solace and Ayda flourishes under all the knowledge the world can give her.

The eighteenth, nineteenth time Fig has to raise a child, Adaine insists on being her primary caretaker, just for a little while, and so Fig goes from mom to Aunt Fig and it stings, just a little, but it's nice to live for a few hundred years and not have to worry about a child. It's nice to have some time to herself, even as Aunt Fig watches Adaine and Aelwyn raise Ayda to be brilliant and bright and the best wizard in the entire world.

The twentieth time Fig has to raise a child, she and Adaine figure they've got it down. They raise Ayda to be herself, to love others and love herself and carry compassion like a weapon and use her knowledge to her advantage. The twentieth time Fig has to raise a child, she looks at the face of one Ayda Aguefort and sees exactly what she's seen for almost a millennia—her daughter. Not her wife, not her best friend, not the Ayda from all those years ago.

Fig Faeth is Ayda Aguefort's mom. Ayda Aguefort is Fig Faeth's daughter. These are the true, simple facts of life, ones that will transcend time and go on as long as they both exist. Fig Faeth raises her child, over and over again, each time doing as much as she can to be the best mom she's ever been. Each time, Ayda Aguefort turns out perfect, because Ayda will always be perfect in Fig's eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> was thinking about how fig is an immortal archdevil now and ayda isn't immortal but definitely isn't mortal and then i got sad so i wrote this. it's unedited and a stream of consciousness so please excuse any errors!
> 
> comments and kudos and highly appreciated, thank you so much for reading!!!
> 
> [tumblr](https://theswirlersisterscircus.tumblr.com)


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